You indolent swine

I would agree that it's nice to see different teams, but the attendance figures for the matches over the last few years would seem to indicate that John and Marv are in a minority in enjoying these occasions.

But would you not suggest that poo-poos the idea of a treize tournoi being succesful nerk?

These games would attract similar crowds, that to me makes that unviable.

Elaborating on Dai's point, if Workington, for example drew a Amateur side (from outside of Cumbria) Would the crowd have been more or less?

I would say the crowd would have been roughly the same, IMO the amateur sides add to the comp as do the LER sides, it just happens that this year has been a poor year for them.

Attendance figures all over the Challenge Cup have been poor for a few years now. Maybe we should bin the whole competition.

Just a thought everybody. Whilst all seem to be having a go at the French teams for their failures in the comp, what about Lokomotiv Moscow? They don't exactly set the Cup alight, and regularly get thrashed. Is it time for a rethink in that direction? Why don't we go for a Scottish or Irish team in the comp, and extol expansion in that area. By the way, I am not anti Russian. I worked over there for five years, and couldn't find a game to go to! (Bu**er)

Yes, I personally think Loko should come in a round earlier and play one of the National Conference sides, last year I watched the 2nd placed Russian side (Vereya Bears) get tonked 64-12 by Leigh Miners.

Only problem with this is the 2nd round, and possibly the third are slighty before the russian season proper, so you could suggest its a World club challenge sort of excuse, in that they are a bit underdone




They do.

Nah

I wouldn't bother with the Russians (or Tatars) either. There's no evidence that their participation in the cup has done anything to advance standards in Russia.

The game there needs material support rather than a token place in the Cup. One without the other is mere window dressing.